Receiving his medal as last year’s Clarendon Marathon [2013] first male, meant so much more to Nathan Montague than just coming in first in one of his favourite events.
When he ran in the 2012 event, the first time since 2008, Nathan broke a bone in his foot and was out of the sport for some four months. More seriously, he was recently severely injured in a car crash which could have meant an end to his favourite sport. Fortunately, recovery was faster than expected, and he was delighted to be able to run in last year’s marathon, only his second event following his injuries. Understandably the win for him was indeed “a ghost laid to rest”.
He had no special ambitions for last year’ run as he was just thrilled to be participating once more. However, as many other competitors say, the encouragement from spectators and marshals was so uplifting, especially, he tells us from the drink station with six miles to go, he found himself back to his very best. On entering the final straight, he saw from the clock that he was very close to his previous time in 2008, so he sprinted to the finish and improved his time by two seconds!
Nathan has twice run as a member of the five strong England team who won both events .On the first occasion it was the 100km Degli Etruschi in Italy and the second was the anglo-celtic plate, held in Galway Ireland which is an annual home international. In Italy he himself finished a credible 10th out of some 300 plus runners. Not surprisingly Nathan’s day job is one which helps keep him fit since he is a PE teacher at a school close to the heart of all Clarendon runners, none other than Wyvern College itself.
Nathan spends as much time as he is able with his two daughters who, he tells us, are as proud of his medals as their father. As far as the future is concerned, he is keen to keep running the Clarendon for many years to come and representing his country again at ultra-distance trail running and the 24hour events. One day he hopes to achieve his ultimate goal of running from Lands’ End to John O’Groats raising a large sum for charity in the process. We wish him all the very best.